Word: witched
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...Witch hunts never cease; only the witches change. Early 17th century France was rife with witch trials. Aldous Huxley chose to write about one that occurred in 1634. His book The Devils of Loudun provided the material for this raw adaptation. Since British Playwright John Whiting's early death in 1963, the play has acquired something of a cult following. Cult plays rarely improve on revival, and The Devils is no exception, but they do often contain scenes or ideas of piquant interest...
...homophobia" (hatred and fear of homosexuals). The nuanced policy admits the possibility of ordination for people with a homosexual orientation, so long as they are "repentant" and committed to celibacy. It directs presbyteries not to quiz ministerial candidates about homosexuality unless they themselves have raised the issue. An "anti-witch-hunt clause" leaves unclear whether the church would act against open homosexuality among those already in the ministry...
Wrong notes intrude; unlike almost all modern artists, he neither practiced be fore the sessions ("Practicing is tedious anathema to me") nor redubbed passages to smooth out errors. In a final heresy, he embraces sentimentality, the witch word of the 20th century. "The more gushing, the better," he proclaims...
...will come to terms with themselves in a calmer future," he muses, writing about student takeovers of universities in the '60s. "Did they not give away rights they would have refused to surrender to, say, an investigating committee of Congress, or a reactionary board of trustees, or a witch-hunting press? Did they not ask the law to close its eyes to actions they would never have defended had mobs come to the colleges from a construction site...
...love triangle that dominates the first act almost completely disappears in the second, despite a token reappearance by two of the characters. Except for a delicious song spoofing a pair of civil servants, the opera lacks much of the celebrated Gilbert and Sullivan social satire. Worst of all, the witch's curse, which has plagued the noble Murgatroyds for more than three centuries and the audience for nearly three hours, is dispelled abruptly, leaving the viewer convinced that Gilbert, unable to find a satisfactory conclusion to the opera, simply manufactured an ending as quickly as possible...